24 Months

 

My baby girl is 2 years old! 2!! How did that happen so quickly?! I can still remember everything about the day she was born...being induced...the contractions...getting the epidural...the doctor telling me that her heart rate was dropping every time I had a contraction...the decision to go ahead and have a c-section...the feel of medicines and fluid being pumped into my body...the ride to the OR...the birth...6:39pm...the sound of Sophie's first cry-she came out wailing...seeing Sophie for the first time...the shock of our baby being 4lb 7oz-a whole pound less than we were expecting...holding Sophie in my arms for the first time... I hope that I never forget these memories. It was the truly the best day of my life.

After having Sophie, I didn't want to miss a second of her growing up. So, every day for the past two years I have taken a picture of her. I've never missed a day of pictures. However, due to a recent computer crash, I lost three days worth of photos (not bad for 2 years, but it still makes me sad to not have those days). I love going through her pictures and seeing how she has grown. Now that she is two though, I might relax on the daily pictures and try for weekly ones. I can't give up my photo project completely because it seems like she is constantly changing, and I want to document that.

Since I've brought up documentation, I guess I should go ahead and do my last monthly update. I am so proud of my little girl. She has come a long way!

• As of last week, Sophie weighed 16lb 3oz. At one year she weighed 13lb 6oz, so she hasn't even gained 3 pounds this year. Even though that sounds worrisome, I am not going to be bothered by it. Sophie is strong and healthy so who cares about the number on the scale? Sure, she is still considered FTT, but she is following her own little growth curve and isn't losing weight. From all that I have read both in medical documents and through families' personal accounts, this all is very typical of IUGR babies. They just grow slowly. Some of those babies have other issues going on, but a lot of them have nothing else that appears to be 'wrong', just like with Sophie. So while she might not be in the same range as those 'normal' sized babies, she is right on target with her IUGR peers. That is good enough for me!

• Sophie's vocabulary keeps improving each day. She always surprises us with the new words that she can say or that she remembers. She is also stringing more words together.Over the past few weeks I have noticed her saying multiple 4-5 word sentences. That really impresses me. Heck, all of it does. (Of course with all of the hundreds of words that Sophie knows, she still won't say the word 'more.' She knows the sign for it, so she will just say 'mmm' and sign the word more. When we try to get her to say it, she just raises her eyebrows, smiles and says 'mmmmm.' Stinker.)
• Speaking of vocabulary, some of the ways that she pronounces words are so cute. For example, she can't pronounce the letter f, so when she says her name she says 'Sosie.' It is really adorable. (Her lack of saying the letter f had her saying 'suck' one day when I accidentally uttered a word that rhymes with suck in front of her. Oops and whew!) She also says 'tops' whenever she is trying to say 'stop.' Those little things make me smile. It won't be long until she starts saying them correctly, and I will miss her mispronunciations. (My heart still gets a little sad when she calls her cousin by her real name, Kaci, instead of Kiki.)
• If you sneeze or cough, Sophie will say 'bless you.'

• I still can't believe how active Sophie is. She is just as active as most 2 year olds, but after waiting so long for her to walk it really excites me. When I look back on older blog posts, I talk a lot about how I was worried when she wasn't walking. It was stressful seeing all of these other kids her age or even those 6 months younger than her walking when Sophie only wanted to crawl. Apparently crawling and walking later is another common IUGR issue. Thankfully she started walking before she turned 18 months and she has never looked back. I love watching her run around, spin in circles and jump. I wish that I could go back to when she was 12-17 months old and tell myself not to worry. She may have been late to the walking game, but she more than makes up for it now. 
• Sophie's memory for identifying things is really coming along. I'm about to get a little braggy (sorry), so if that annoys you then just move to the next bullet...Sophie can identify at least 15 different animals and the sounds that half of them make. (dog, cat, fish, bird, frog, cow, horse, pig, duck, elephant, monkey, giraffe, zebra, alligator, tiger, lion, and a few others depending on the day.) She also knows all of her body parts, including her chin, shoulders, neck, elbows, and her 'lady parts.' (The other day in the tub she randomly grabbed her self and yelled 'gyna.' Oh my.) She even knows where her palm is. Seriously? I have no idea where she learned that! She can count to 13, but she usually skips the even numbers (except for 2 and 10). She can spell her name, minus the letter 'h.'

• We are breaking the car seat rules. Kids are supposed to be at least 20 pounds before they face forward in their car seats. Sophie obviously won't hit that weight for awhile. We decided though that it was time to get her some forward facing seats. Joe installed her seats the day before school started for me so that Sophie could start the school year in a new seat. She loves it! I love it, too. She seems much happier in the car now.

• Sophie has peed on the potty a dozen times now. 5 of those being in the past week! I'm not going to push the potty training thing, but this is a great start. If we can get her peeing on the potty even a few times a week, I will be happy. If that doesn't happen, who cares. She is only 2 and has plenty of time to learn. (2...oh my goodness...she is 2!)
• Sophie is becoming more and more independent. There are many days when I try to put shoes on her or help her with something and she just brushes my hands away. At any given moment in our house you will here, "Sosie, too!" "Me try." "No. Sosie do it." "Sosie turn."  Bring on the terrible twos!

• Speaking of the terrible twos, one of Sophie's new 'tricks' is her fake cry. She has done this for awhile, but now it is even more dramatic...and more fake. She also has started putting her fingers in her ears when she doesn't want to listen. Oh, Sophie...

• Sophie still doesn't quite understand that I am having a baby. However, if we ask her where the baby is, she knows to point to my stomach. Sometimes she will lift up my shirt and kiss my stomach or 'talk' to the baby (usually there is some prompting for her to talk to the baby.) It is pretty sweet. I can't help but wonder what Sophie will be like when the baby is born. Jealous? Helpful? Mean? Loving? Who knows. There is a baby at her baby sitter's house a few times a week, so hopefully Sophie will get used to the sounds they make. Maybe she will get over any jealousy issues, too. I think she will be a good big sister though.
• Sophie seemed to really enjoy her birthday today. When we would ask how old she is she would tell us 'two!' When we tell her it is her birthday, she says, "Happy day!" and "Happy birthday." She loved when we sang happy birthday to her and she even tried to blow out the candles on her cupcake. Her favorite thing though was opening her presents. She was already tearing into them before I got them all on the floor next to her! She ripped the paper off and cheered happily at all the gifts. When all of the presents were opened and she finished playing with them, she looked around and said, "mmmmm presents" while signing the 'more' sign. She walked around the room looking for some more, calling out, "Presents!" Silly girl. I'm glad that she had a 'happy day.'

 I couldn't be prouder to be Sophie's mom. She is a strong, brave, smart, happy, silly and sweet little girl. I tell you, the best things come in small packages. I don't know who I would be without her. She has enhanced my life in so many ways. I never knew that I could love someone so much. She is my world! I can't wait to see what the future has in store for her.

Click the link below for more pictures from this month.

My, How She Has Grown!

     

Birth

1 Month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

12 Months

13 Months

14 Months

15 Months

16 Months

17 Months

18 Months

19 Months

20 Months

21 Months

22 Months

23 Months

24 Months

The End of Summer

It is that time of year again...the end of the summer and back to school for me. I've been feeling bad this past month because Sophie and I have spent more time indoors than out doing different activities. I really wanted her to have a special summer since it is our last one that we will have alone together. Sure she won't remember it, but it still meant something to me. The problem is that it has been so hot this summer so I really didn't want to go outside much unless I was in the pool. Sophie wasn't allowed to go in a pool until her finger was healed, so that took away 2 weeks. Plus, I have been so exhausted since I am pregnant that I just wanted to lounge around on the couch. Those things together have equaled a lazy July/beginning of August. We still did a few activities, but not as much as I had hoped for. I still think we had a good time together though. Sophie can always find something to get into.

Today was our last day before I had to go back to school. I really wanted to make it special, but we both had doctors appointments to go to. So, instead of trying to sleep in a little, we woke up bright and early to head over to Children's Hospital for Sophie's cardiology follow-up. They performed an EKG which came back fine. Everything else sounded normal, besides her bicuspid valve. It is still very minor and the doctor told me that if she were to have bigger issues with it, it wouldn't be until she was a lot older. She shouldn't have any issues with sports or anything else growing up. I love good news like that. They told me that Sophie doesn't have to come back for another year. I however need to go back in a month. Ha! I asked the doctor if any of Sophie's heart issues were genetic issues that her new sibling could have. He told me that the bicuspid valve is genetic and that he would suggest the new baby be checked out. I told him that my doctor wanted a fetal echo performed to check for any abnormalities. He recommended that I have my echo done at Children's with his department (he went on about how only they do echos and everyone else does ultrasounds...I'm pretty sure I had a fetal echo with Sophie, but who knows. I was at least told that is what it was. I'm not sure I understand the difference. I mean they looked at Sophie's heart in utero, so...) I agreed to go there for the echo, especially since Sophie's bicuspid valve wasn't caught during my last fetal echo ultrasound echo (and the doctor told me that it should have been picked up). Hopefully no issues will be found, but if they are I feel good knowing that Sophie's doctor will take care of the new baby.

After Sophie's appointment, we headed to the zoo. As always, Sophie had a wonderful time. We went around searching for animals that she hasn't seen yet this summer. She enjoyed looking at them all, and would tell them each "bye-bye" when she was finished looking at them. I also took her on the carousel when we were there. It was her first time on one and I though that she would cry and scream like all the other kids where were on there. Nope. Sophie held on tight, smiled and didn't make a peep. I'm so glad that she enjoyed it! After a quick nap and lunch at home, we went to my check up. Sophie and my mom got to hang out and listen to the new baby's heartbeat. It took awhile to be able to hear it, but eventually we did. When I turned around to see Sophie's reaction, she had her fingers stuck in her ears. Silly girl.

Even though we had to hang out waiting for doctors for part of the time, I still think that it was a pretty darn good last day of summer for the two of us. I can't wait until next summer when I have both of my babies to spend time with!

Sophie Has Some News...

23 Months

One more month until my girl turns 2! I can't wait!

Sophie is at such a fun age right now. She has such a big personality and never fails to make us laugh. Her vocabulary keeps growing and I can't get over how smart she is. I get so impressed at the words/directions that she understands and the things that she remembers. She is like a little sponge, absorbing everything. I also love how helpful she is. She puts toys away (for the most part) when she is asked, will throw trash away, go get items for me, take my hand and direct me to what she wants, etc. Nice! This girl just amazes me. I love her so much.

When I took Sophie to the doctor's for her finger last week (click here for the story), she weighed 16 lb 4 oz. She hasn't even gained 3 pounds this year. Geez! Still, Joe and I have decided not to worry about her weight anymore (we've said this before, but really mean it this time). No more tests being run, no more GI visits, no more agonizing over each ounce. As long as Sophie is healthy, active and eating and drinking, we are satisfied and will let her do her own thing. However, if any of those things change, we will go right back to the doctors for help. I discussed this with Sophie's nurse case manager from Humana (the awesome Tonya, who helped me a lot when we had tests to be approved for and feeding tube supplies to deal with) and she agreed with our decision. I have to say, it is very freeing to let go of the worry over her weight. She is going to be small and that is just fine with us.

We went on vacation earlier this month to Coldwater Lake, Michigan. We used to always go when I was little, so I love being able to share the lake with Sophie. Last year when we went, Sophie had her first ear infection. Her fevers were so high and she was miserable. Luckily we didn't have that problem this year. Sophie was in good health (minus a little heat rash) and she had so much fun! She loved the water and was not afraid to walk right in and sit down and play in it. (The lake water was actually pretty darn warm and it is really shallow. We would go 1/3 of the way across the lake and it would still only be up to our waist). Sophie especially loved playing with her cousin all week long.  The girls had so much fun together. Sophie even started to like 'Aunt Beba' again (she was bribed by an unlimited amount of popsicles).

Sophie still isn't that interested in potty training. She has peed on the potty a few more times, but it very random. She can tell us when she poops but doesn't want to do it on the potty. A few weeks ago I saw that she was starting to poop (leaned up again the couch with her head down). I asked her if she wanted to poop on the potty and she looked up at me and yelled, "NO!" before putting her head back down. That is okay. There is no big rush to get her trained. Besides, I still can't find any underwear small enough for her.

Sophie has started to drink out of  a cup this month. She doesn't use one all of the time, but she is getting good practice. We've had a few spills on the floor and dribbles down her shirt, but she has done surprisingly well. Sophie is pretty specific about what she will drink out of certain containers. She will only drink milk out of a bottle. She will only drink water out of sippy cups. She will only drink juice out of juice pouches. For cups though, she will drink water or lemonade. As soon as she sees me get lemonade out of the fridge, she will say, "Want some!" We'll sit and drink our lemonade together, giving obnoxious lip smacks and 'ahhhh's after each drink. Oh, how I love Sophie.

Ahhhhh

Enjoy some pictures from this month after the jump:

Stuck!

Last week, Sophie got her finger stuck in our shower drain. So scary. Sophie really likes taking showers (a treat she doesn't get often and probably won't get for a long time now) with me. Since we both needed clean hair and Joe was going to the Reds game, I figured we might as well kill two birds with one stone. She was so excited and was trying to get her clothes off as she walked to our bathroom. So we got in the shower and she made me sit on the floor with her. We shampooed our hair and I stood up to get the hand held shower head down so we could rise. As soon as I stood up I heard a frantic, "STUCK! STUCK!" I look down and she had moved to the middle of the shower, right above the drain. Now, Sophie often thinks things are stuck on her, like her shoes, so I wasn't thinking it was anything serious at first. I grabbed her little hand and gave a small tug and sure enough, she was stuck. I felt sick to my stomach and panicked. I turned off the water and tried to think of what to do. Go get a screwdriver to unscrew the drain? Seriously, that was my first thought. I didn't think about the bottle of shampoo right next to her that could lube up her finger. (And what if I did get that screwdriver? Her finger would have still been stuck. Geez.) I just couldn't think straight. I went to try pulling out her finger again and I had no luck. Obviously I wasn't pulling hard enough, because my little She-Ra pulled her finger out on her own. I was so relieved that her finger was out until her cries of, "Stuck!" turned into a howl of agony. I looked at her newly released finger and saw it covered with blood. I grabbed her and took her over to the bathroom sink to wash off the blood so I could see the wound more clearly. It just kept bleeding and I couldn't gauge how bad things were. At this point Sophie is screaming so loud and shaking so hard that I started to panic even more. I looked around the bathroom to find something to wrap her finger up with. I had nothing but big bath towels, but I finally found a bandanna under the sink (a clean one for my hair). I wrapped her finger up, squeezed my hand around it and tried calling Joe. I knew that he would know what I should do (and he would have been able to calm me down), but there was no answer. I tried three more times, but apparently his phone didn't have reception or something. Then I try our pediatrician's office to talk to the on call doctor. I left a message for them explaining the situation and tried Joe again. Nothing. At this point I am a wreck and just don't know what to do. I wasn't sure if Sophie needed stitches or what. I kept thinking that I needed to take her to the ER; I really didn't know how bad things were and I wanted to play it safe. All I knew was there was a lot of blood and she was screaming and shaking with pain. I wasn't sure about how to actually get her to the hospital. I doubted she would let me strap her into her car seat. Even if she did, I wasn't sure how I was going to drive while still holding her finger to put pressure on it. Again, I am not thinking clearly. I completely didn't think about any of the medical supplies we have, including tape to wrap up her finger. *sigh* I didn't know what else to do, so for the second time in my life, and the second time this summer, I called 911 (the first was when Sophie was locked in the car.) The dispatcher said that they would an ambulance out to our house so the EMTs could assess the situation. (I felt very stupid about this, by the way-having an ambulance come out for a finger injury seemed so dumb. Still, I had no other ideas as to what to do and I was worried for Sophie. It is extremely obvious that you don't want me by your side in an emergency.) While waiting for the ambulance (about 7-10 minutes), I had enough time to quickly rinse the shampoo out of our hair (yup, it was still in there), get us dressed, talk to the on call nurse from the pediatrician's office (she was no help so I'm glad the EMTs were on their way), give Sophie some medicine, and go outside to wait. The EMTs were great. They looked at the finger and said that she just pulled off a layer of skin from her finger (apparently finger just bleed a lot). There was no need for stitches or to go to the hospital. They wrapped it up in gauze, taped it up, and gave Sophie a high five. Seriously, why couldn't I have done this? Oh well, at least she was going to be okay.

I took Sophie to see her doctor the next day. He confirmed what the EMTs had said. He gave me a prescription for an antibiotic cream and told me to change her bandages twice a day for about two weeks. Sophie did not like that plan though. See, my child is small but mighty. Even with me holding her body and trying to keep her arm still, it is very difficult for Joe to change her bandage. I tried to do it once on my own and she wouldn't even let me take off the bandage. So we only change it once a day. We also have only been dressing her in dresses that button on the shoulders because she doesn't want to put her arm through sleeves (she just steps into these dresses and doesn't have to have anything happen to her arms). She is getting better with this now though. For a few days, she even refused to let us put her arm with the hurt finger through the strap on her car seat. Poor kid!

Sophie is feeling a lot better, but her finger still hurts. She definitely doesn't want anyone to touch her finger or mention it. If you do mention it, she will automatically lay her head on your shoulder and hug onto you. Poor thing. It is nice to have her so snugly, but I hate why. I just feel so awful about the whole thing. I couldn't sleep those first two nights because I kept replaying the whole thing in my head. It is hard to hear or see your child in pain and it isn't something you forget easily. Plus I couldn't stop kicking myself over how badly I handled the situation. Poor Sophie had to have this happen with me, the person with no medical expertise at all and who obviously doesn't do well in a crisis. Her dad is a physician assistant who would have been great in this situation. Not only would he have know what to do, but he would have done it calmly and efficiently. (Ending my pity party now.) Rotten luck for Sophie all around.

The drain. I guess those little holes looked like fun. 

After the EMTs wrapped the finger.

I've included a picture of her finger without a bandage after the jump. Kinda gross, but it is blurry enough that you shouldn't want to hurl.